This book offers a wealth of new knowledge about the origins of suicide terrorism and strategies to stop it. It presents the results of examinations of every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from ...
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This book offers a wealth of new knowledge about the origins of suicide terrorism and strategies to stop it. It presents the results of examinations of every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from 1980 to 2009, and how the insights that have been gleaned from that data fundamentally challenge how we understand the root causes of terrorist campaigns today—and reveal why the War on Terror has been ultimately counterproductive. Through a close analysis of suicide campaigns by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, the chapters provide powerful new evidence that, contrary to popular and dangerously mistaken belief, only a tiny minority of these attacks are motivated solely by religion. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people alike to carry out suicide attacks.Less

Cutting the Fuse : The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It

Robert A. PapeJames K. Feldman

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This book offers a wealth of new knowledge about the origins of suicide terrorism and strategies to stop it. It presents the results of examinations of every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from 1980 to 2009, and how the insights that have been gleaned from that data fundamentally challenge how we understand the root causes of terrorist campaigns today—and reveal why the War on Terror has been ultimately counterproductive. Through a close analysis of suicide campaigns by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, the chapters provide powerful new evidence that, contrary to popular and dangerously mistaken belief, only a tiny minority of these attacks are motivated solely by religion. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people alike to carry out suicide attacks.

This chapter analyzes the phenomenon of transnational suicide terrorism. It explains that transnational suicide terrorism, a rare phenomenon largely associated with the progressive radicalization of ...
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This chapter analyzes the phenomenon of transnational suicide terrorism. It explains that transnational suicide terrorism, a rare phenomenon largely associated with the progressive radicalization of specific types of groups of individuals with multiple national loyalties under extremely unusual circumstances, has important implications. The chapter suggests that transnational suicide terrorists are individuals with colliding communal loyalties, one for a kindred community and another for their home country of citizenship. It also suggests that the group logic of transnational suicide terrorism is not a one-way process in which everyone who enters one stage necessarily goes forward to the next, but instead is an open-ended process with many off-ramps and two-way avenues.Less

What Really Motivates Transnational Suicide Terrorists

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter analyzes the phenomenon of transnational suicide terrorism. It explains that transnational suicide terrorism, a rare phenomenon largely associated with the progressive radicalization of specific types of groups of individuals with multiple national loyalties under extremely unusual circumstances, has important implications. The chapter suggests that transnational suicide terrorists are individuals with colliding communal loyalties, one for a kindred community and another for their home country of citizenship. It also suggests that the group logic of transnational suicide terrorism is not a one-way process in which everyone who enters one stage necessarily goes forward to the next, but instead is an open-ended process with many off-ramps and two-way avenues.

Suicide terrorism, although not new, increased over the last decade in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorist organizations primarily use suicide attacks as a form of psychological warfare to ...
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Suicide terrorism, although not new, increased over the last decade in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorist organizations primarily use suicide attacks as a form of psychological warfare to create fear and chaos as a means of achieving a political goal. Suicide attacks often cause an intense combination of personal fear for one’s life and shared national fear for the security of the country. The current paper describes a theoretical model based on the PSI-theory (Dörner, 1999)that connects individuals’ fear of suicide attacks to political attitudes. The paper describes how politicians react to these individual psychological processes related to fear of suicide terrorism, using examples from the Hamid Karzai administration in Afghanistan and the Nouri al-Maliki administration in Iraq. Thus the paper attempts to connect psychological motivational, emotional, and cognitive processes on the level of the individual to the politics of the war on terror.Less

Fear of Suicide Terrorism : Consequences for Individuals and Politics

C. Dominik GüssAlexandra FoustDietrich Dörner

Published in print: 2013-08-30

Suicide terrorism, although not new, increased over the last decade in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorist organizations primarily use suicide attacks as a form of psychological warfare to create fear and chaos as a means of achieving a political goal. Suicide attacks often cause an intense combination of personal fear for one’s life and shared national fear for the security of the country. The current paper describes a theoretical model based on the PSI-theory (Dörner, 1999)that connects individuals’ fear of suicide attacks to political attitudes. The paper describes how politicians react to these individual psychological processes related to fear of suicide terrorism, using examples from the Hamid Karzai administration in Afghanistan and the Nouri al-Maliki administration in Iraq. Thus the paper attempts to connect psychological motivational, emotional, and cognitive processes on the level of the individual to the politics of the war on terror.

This chapter investigates how military occupation drives ordinary people to become suicide terrorists. It analyzes the global patterns of suicide attacks around the world from 1980 to 2003, which ...
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This chapter investigates how military occupation drives ordinary people to become suicide terrorists. It analyzes the global patterns of suicide attacks around the world from 1980 to 2003, which involved about 350 suicide attacks, and from 2004 to 2009, when the number of suicide attacks around the world escalated sharply and became more focused against the United States. The findings indicate that the conquest of Muslim countries since 2001 has vastly increased anti-American suicide terrorism around the world and suggests that the war on terrorism from 2001 to 2009 has failed to make Americans safer.Less

Why Occupation Ignites Suicide Terrorism

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter investigates how military occupation drives ordinary people to become suicide terrorists. It analyzes the global patterns of suicide attacks around the world from 1980 to 2003, which involved about 350 suicide attacks, and from 2004 to 2009, when the number of suicide attacks around the world escalated sharply and became more focused against the United States. The findings indicate that the conquest of Muslim countries since 2001 has vastly increased anti-American suicide terrorism around the world and suggests that the war on terrorism from 2001 to 2009 has failed to make Americans safer.

This introduction discusses the theme of this book, which is about the causes and origins of suicide terrorism. The book analyzes suicide terrorism campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, ...
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This introduction discusses the theme of this book, which is about the causes and origins of suicide terrorism. The book analyzes suicide terrorism campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2009. The findings provide strong confirmation for the hypothesis that military occupation is the main factor driving suicide terrorism, evidence for new hypotheses about the causes of transnational suicide terrorism.Less

Why Focus on Suicide Terrorism

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This introduction discusses the theme of this book, which is about the causes and origins of suicide terrorism. The book analyzes suicide terrorism campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2009. The findings provide strong confirmation for the hypothesis that military occupation is the main factor driving suicide terrorism, evidence for new hypotheses about the causes of transnational suicide terrorism.

This chapter examines the ebb and flow of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) use of suicide terrorism over the course of the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka that ended in 2009. It suggests ...
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This chapter examines the ebb and flow of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) use of suicide terrorism over the course of the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka that ended in 2009. It suggests that the use of suicide terrorism was triggered by the religious conflict between the ethnic Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority, which led to the emergence of a culture of martyrdom that sustains popular support for suicide terrorism. The chapter also discusses the three components of the Sri Lankan policy to end suicide terrorism and discusses its potential as a general model for ending suicide terrorism.Less

Sri Lanka

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter examines the ebb and flow of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) use of suicide terrorism over the course of the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka that ended in 2009. It suggests that the use of suicide terrorism was triggered by the religious conflict between the ethnic Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority, which led to the emergence of a culture of martyrdom that sustains popular support for suicide terrorism. The chapter also discusses the three components of the Sri Lankan policy to end suicide terrorism and discusses its potential as a general model for ending suicide terrorism.

This chapter, which explores the origins and goals of the two principal groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Afghanistan—the Taliban and Al Qaeda—reveals that the initiation and trajectory of ...
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This chapter, which explores the origins and goals of the two principal groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Afghanistan—the Taliban and Al Qaeda—reveals that the initiation and trajectory of suicide terrorism in Afghanistan is the direct result of foreign occupation. It explains that many Afghans support suicide attacks as a strategy to end Western military operations and a crisis of confidence in the Afghan central government. The chapter also analyzes Pakistan's close ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which continue to frustrate U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region.Less

Afghanistan

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter, which explores the origins and goals of the two principal groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Afghanistan—the Taliban and Al Qaeda—reveals that the initiation and trajectory of suicide terrorism in Afghanistan is the direct result of foreign occupation. It explains that many Afghans support suicide attacks as a strategy to end Western military operations and a crisis of confidence in the Afghan central government. The chapter also analyzes Pakistan's close ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which continue to frustrate U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region.

This chapter, which examines suicide terrorism campaigns in Lebanon and their relation to Israel's military occupation of the country, analyzes the origins of the conflict, the trajectory of suicide ...
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This chapter, which examines suicide terrorism campaigns in Lebanon and their relation to Israel's military occupation of the country, analyzes the origins of the conflict, the trajectory of suicide attacks, and the terrorist groups' operational patterns and weapon tactics. It also describes the demographic profile of the suicide bombers, and highlights the support of the Lebanese people for martyrdom and the aims of the terrorist groups.Less

Lebanon

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter, which examines suicide terrorism campaigns in Lebanon and their relation to Israel's military occupation of the country, analyzes the origins of the conflict, the trajectory of suicide attacks, and the terrorist groups' operational patterns and weapon tactics. It also describes the demographic profile of the suicide bombers, and highlights the support of the Lebanese people for martyrdom and the aims of the terrorist groups.

This chapter examines Palestinian suicide terrorism against Israel. It shows that the primary impetus behind the formation of the Palestinian suicide attack campaign was Israel's occupation, and ...
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This chapter examines Palestinian suicide terrorism against Israel. It shows that the primary impetus behind the formation of the Palestinian suicide attack campaign was Israel's occupation, and particularly Israel's changing cultural, political, and military influence on the West Bank and Gaza from the mid-1980s onward. The chapter provides a brief history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from World War I to the 1993 Oslo Accords and evaluates public support for suicide terrorist groups in Palestine.Less

Israel and Palestine

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter examines Palestinian suicide terrorism against Israel. It shows that the primary impetus behind the formation of the Palestinian suicide attack campaign was Israel's occupation, and particularly Israel's changing cultural, political, and military influence on the West Bank and Gaza from the mid-1980s onward. The chapter provides a brief history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from World War I to the 1993 Oslo Accords and evaluates public support for suicide terrorist groups in Palestine.

This chapter examines the historical context of the Chechen separatist suicide terrorist campaign as well as its groups, goals, trajectory, targets, and trends over time. The analysis reveals that ...
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This chapter examines the historical context of the Chechen separatist suicide terrorist campaign as well as its groups, goals, trajectory, targets, and trends over time. The analysis reveals that the more accurate cause of attacks is resistance to Russian occupation and that suicide terrorism has been the weapon of last resort by the separatists after ordinary resistance failed to achieve Russian military withdrawal. The chapter also suggests that the variation in the trajectory of suicide attacks from 2000 to 2009 corresponds to counterterrorism campaigns that were first initiated by Russian occupational forces and then by the Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.Less

Chechnya

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter examines the historical context of the Chechen separatist suicide terrorist campaign as well as its groups, goals, trajectory, targets, and trends over time. The analysis reveals that the more accurate cause of attacks is resistance to Russian occupation and that suicide terrorism has been the weapon of last resort by the separatists after ordinary resistance failed to achieve Russian military withdrawal. The chapter also suggests that the variation in the trajectory of suicide attacks from 2000 to 2009 corresponds to counterterrorism campaigns that were first initiated by Russian occupational forces and then by the Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.

This chapter analyzes suicide terrorism in Iraq. It explains the composition, goals, objectives, cohesion, popular support, trajectory, and state sponsorship status of the five key groups that have ...
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This chapter analyzes suicide terrorism in Iraq. It explains the composition, goals, objectives, cohesion, popular support, trajectory, and state sponsorship status of the five key groups that have engaged in suicide terrorist tactics in Iraq. Suicide terrorists in Iraq are predominantly Sunni Muslims. The analysis of the goals of several campaigns reveals that the common strategic objectives are to remove the coalition presence in Iraq and undermine the new Iraqi government in its current form. But these groups disagree substantially with respect to the role that religion should play in the future of Iraqi governance.Less

Iraq

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter analyzes suicide terrorism in Iraq. It explains the composition, goals, objectives, cohesion, popular support, trajectory, and state sponsorship status of the five key groups that have engaged in suicide terrorist tactics in Iraq. Suicide terrorists in Iraq are predominantly Sunni Muslims. The analysis of the goals of several campaigns reveals that the common strategic objectives are to remove the coalition presence in Iraq and undermine the new Iraqi government in its current form. But these groups disagree substantially with respect to the role that religion should play in the future of Iraqi governance.

The chapter examines the role of apocalyptic in Islam. It begins with the mutation in Muslim apocalyptic literature at the approach of the year 2000, then goes back to Islamic origins as an ...
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The chapter examines the role of apocalyptic in Islam. It begins with the mutation in Muslim apocalyptic literature at the approach of the year 2000, then goes back to Islamic origins as an apocalyptic movement in which Muhammad announced the imminent Last Judgment, and developed military jihad AU: MW and CMS both say lower case, and since you use lc elsewhere, I'm going to standardize to that. as a response to the humiliating disappointment of its non-arrival. After outlining the basic components of Islamic apocalyptic thinking, the chapter traces how Western modernity and, especially, Israel, revived apocalyptic Islam, in the form of global jihad, from 1979 (ah 1400) to the year 2000, from the Iranian (Shiite) revolution to Bin Laden, Hizbullah, and Hamas. Global jihad, in the terms of this book, represents an active, cataclysmic apocalyptic movement aiming at an imperial millennium—the most destructive force in human history.Less

Enraged Millennialism : Global Jihad (1400–1500 ah / 1979–2076 ce)

Richard Landes

Published in print: 2011-08-01

The chapter examines the role of apocalyptic in Islam. It begins with the mutation in Muslim apocalyptic literature at the approach of the year 2000, then goes back to Islamic origins as an apocalyptic movement in which Muhammad announced the imminent Last Judgment, and developed military jihad AU: MW and CMS both say lower case, and since you use lc elsewhere, I'm going to standardize to that. as a response to the humiliating disappointment of its non-arrival. After outlining the basic components of Islamic apocalyptic thinking, the chapter traces how Western modernity and, especially, Israel, revived apocalyptic Islam, in the form of global jihad, from 1979 (ah 1400) to the year 2000, from the Iranian (Shiite) revolution to Bin Laden, Hizbullah, and Hamas. Global jihad, in the terms of this book, represents an active, cataclysmic apocalyptic movement aiming at an imperial millennium—the most destructive force in human history.

This chapter discusses the failure of the United States to address suicide terrorism. It highlights the facts that American military policies have not stopped the rising wave of extremism in the ...
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This chapter discusses the failure of the United States to address suicide terrorism. It highlights the facts that American military policies have not stopped the rising wave of extremism in the Muslim world and that anti-American suicide terrorism is rapidly rising worldwide. This trend may be attributed to America's occupation of two large Muslim countries and the deployment of special forces in numerous Muslim countries. The chapter argues that by ending the perception that the United States and its allies are occupiers, it will be possible to “cut the fuse” to the suicide terrorism threat.Less

The End of Fear, the Beginning of Understanding

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter discusses the failure of the United States to address suicide terrorism. It highlights the facts that American military policies have not stopped the rising wave of extremism in the Muslim world and that anti-American suicide terrorism is rapidly rising worldwide. This trend may be attributed to America's occupation of two large Muslim countries and the deployment of special forces in numerous Muslim countries. The chapter argues that by ending the perception that the United States and its allies are occupiers, it will be possible to “cut the fuse” to the suicide terrorism threat.

This chapter examines the groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Pakistan, including their objectives, state sponsorship, targeting patterns, local community support, and recruitment. It shows ...
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This chapter examines the groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Pakistan, including their objectives, state sponsorship, targeting patterns, local community support, and recruitment. It shows that the initiation and trajectory of the Pakistani suicide campaign are functions of the evolving political and military alliance between the United States and Pakistan since 2002. The chapter also evaluates the consequences of the recent escalation of U.S. drone attacks in the region.Less

Pakistan

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter examines the groups responsible for suicide terrorism in Pakistan, including their objectives, state sponsorship, targeting patterns, local community support, and recruitment. It shows that the initiation and trajectory of the Pakistani suicide campaign are functions of the evolving political and military alliance between the United States and Pakistan since 2002. The chapter also evaluates the consequences of the recent escalation of U.S. drone attacks in the region.

Why do people decide to sacrifice their own lives - the totality of their self-interests - in acts of extreme violence against others? A standard assumption of policymakers and researchers on war and ...
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Why do people decide to sacrifice their own lives - the totality of their self-interests - in acts of extreme violence against others? A standard assumption of policymakers and researchers on war and terrorism is that decisions to support or oppose warfare are made in an instrumentally rational manner and thus driven by cost-benefit calculations. But war in general, and suicide terrorism in particular, arouse humans’ most noble sentiments and worst fears, and rarely, if ever, derive wholly from reason and rational calculation. This challenges the claim that war is basically “politics by other means.” In previous experiments carried out across different cultural and political contexts, with political leaders and larger populations in the Middle East and elsewhere, we found that decisions to support or oppose political violence could be framed as moral dilemmas that lead to dramatic insensitivity to instrumental outcomes. Other research supports the notion that extreme group violence is primarily a male occupation driven across human history and cultures by an evolved aptitude for parochial altruism as a moral virtue.Less

War, martyrdom, and terror: evolutionary underpinnings of the moral imperative to extreme group violence

Scott Atran

Published in print: 2011-11-24

Why do people decide to sacrifice their own lives - the totality of their self-interests - in acts of extreme violence against others? A standard assumption of policymakers and researchers on war and terrorism is that decisions to support or oppose warfare are made in an instrumentally rational manner and thus driven by cost-benefit calculations. But war in general, and suicide terrorism in particular, arouse humans’ most noble sentiments and worst fears, and rarely, if ever, derive wholly from reason and rational calculation. This challenges the claim that war is basically “politics by other means.” In previous experiments carried out across different cultural and political contexts, with political leaders and larger populations in the Middle East and elsewhere, we found that decisions to support or oppose political violence could be framed as moral dilemmas that lead to dramatic insensitivity to instrumental outcomes. Other research supports the notion that extreme group violence is primarily a male occupation driven across human history and cultures by an evolved aptitude for parochial altruism as a moral virtue.

This chapter examines the suicide terrorism campaign of Al Qaeda. It outlines the group's origins, its visionary goals of restoring the Caliphate, its strategic calculus aimed at removing Western ...
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This chapter examines the suicide terrorism campaign of Al Qaeda. It outlines the group's origins, its visionary goals of restoring the Caliphate, its strategic calculus aimed at removing Western military and political influence from Muslim lands, and its tactical objectives borne of operational constraints and opportunities. The chapter evaluates the group's internal cohesiveness, its external alliances with other organizations, and the Arab public support for its goals and objectives. It also explains that while Al Qaeda never produced a high volume of attacks, its attacks have attracted substantial attention worldwide because of the high number of casualties.Less

Al Qaeda

Published in print: 2010-10-15

This chapter examines the suicide terrorism campaign of Al Qaeda. It outlines the group's origins, its visionary goals of restoring the Caliphate, its strategic calculus aimed at removing Western military and political influence from Muslim lands, and its tactical objectives borne of operational constraints and opportunities. The chapter evaluates the group's internal cohesiveness, its external alliances with other organizations, and the Arab public support for its goals and objectives. It also explains that while Al Qaeda never produced a high volume of attacks, its attacks have attracted substantial attention worldwide because of the high number of casualties.

This chapter builds on the past to learn about the future: How does today’s use of tunnels differ from yesterday’s? What will tomorrow’s underground warfare look like? These questions are answered ...
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This chapter builds on the past to learn about the future: How does today’s use of tunnels differ from yesterday’s? What will tomorrow’s underground warfare look like? These questions are answered through the historical narrative and a database of over 40 years of New York Times reports on the use of tunnels in conflict. The NYT data fills some of the holes left by the absence of literature and helps shape the first typology of tunnels. This chapter offers conceptual and analytical tools for understanding and contending with tunnel warfare. It also encapsulates one of the book’s major arguments that, absent a major technological breakthrough, underground warfare is likely to intensify and continue its rapid diffusion in the coming years, following a pattern resembling that of suicide terrorism.Less

Underground Warfare : From a Tool of War to a Global Security Threat

Daphné Richemond-Barak

Published in print: 2018-02-02

This chapter builds on the past to learn about the future: How does today’s use of tunnels differ from yesterday’s? What will tomorrow’s underground warfare look like? These questions are answered through the historical narrative and a database of over 40 years of New York Times reports on the use of tunnels in conflict. The NYT data fills some of the holes left by the absence of literature and helps shape the first typology of tunnels. This chapter offers conceptual and analytical tools for understanding and contending with tunnel warfare. It also encapsulates one of the book’s major arguments that, absent a major technological breakthrough, underground warfare is likely to intensify and continue its rapid diffusion in the coming years, following a pattern resembling that of suicide terrorism.